The Parrot “mans up”

2GB shock jock Alan Jones has apologised to Prime Minister Julia Gillard for saying her father died of shame because of her repeated lies.

“Every person in the caucus of the Labor Party knows that Julia Gillard is a liar,” Jones said. “The old man recently died a few weeks ago of shame. To think that he had a daughter who told lies every time she stood for parliament.”

Jones issued a grudging apology after his remarks were “outed” in the weekend media and advertisers began to desert his programme.

In his statement Jones, aka The Parrot and/or Gloria, said it was his policy to “man up” when he made comments he later regretted. Really?

POSTSCRIPT

The noisy response of Jones’s anti-Gillard remarks has been fascinating. The very same people who were calling for the California-made anti-Moslem film to be shown (in the interests of freedom of speech) are now calling for Jones to be sacked from 2GB because of his attack on Julia Gillard.

Are these people confused or what?

SOMETHING ROTTEN IN THE LIBERAL PARTY

What is it with Liberal Party leaders and their parliamentary secretaries?

Current leader Tony Abbott, aka The Mad Monk, has just been embarrassed into shedding his parliamentary secretary, Senator Cory Bernardi.

He reluctantly moved against his soulmate and outer-office manager after Bernardi’s deranged speech in the Senate claiming that same sex marriage was the thin of the wedge which would inevitably lead to an acceptance of bestiality.

Of course, Abbott has form. When he was elected to parliament he chose David Oldfield as his chief political adviser. Oldfield, who was described himself as a national socialist, co-founded the racist One Nation Party with Pauline Hanson.

He helped organise the party’s platform, administration, constitution and policy while working on Abbott’s staff. The two parted ways but have remained friends.

Oldfield who now works as a radio shock jock was roundly condemned in 2010 when he outlined his policy for refugees: “We’ll turn on the electric fences, we’ll stop them from coming, and the ones that are here – we’ll make sure they can’t escape, and if they do try it, they’ll be fried.”

Now we turn to Abbott’s political mentor, former Prime Minister, John Howard. He had a controversial parliamentary secretary as well – Senator “Buffalo” Bill Heffernan. This odious individual accused eminent Australian High Court judge Michael Kirby of a criminal offence in a speech to the Senate made under parliamentary privilege.

When evidence was produced that Heffernan’s homophobic attack was based upon a pack of lies, he made a parliamentary apology – but Howard kept him on the party’s NSW executive as his personal representative. Howard and Heffernan remain close friends.

What a crew – Howard, Heffernan, Abbott, Oldfield and Bernardi – the real face of the Liberal Party.

THE MEDIA AND THE CRIME COMMISSION

The Australian Crime Commission, one of country’s most over-rated, over-paid and over-hyped police agencies, has pulled off another media coup.

The mainstream media, as well as Radio Australia’s business editor, Sheryl Bagwell, breathlessly reported the ACC’s latest study on white collar crime, i.e. a variation of the old Nigerian swindle.

This penny and dime stuff which could be handled by the Ombudsman or Choice magazine.

But listening to Ms Bagwell and reading some of the ACC’s edited press releases in the newspapers, you could be excused for think that the commission’s super sleuths had cracked an international crime syndicate. They haven’t.

The commission’s PR exercises are designed to convince the politicians and the public that it is actually doing something (when it isn’t) and to persuade the government to keep increasing its funding.

The truth is that the ACC is making no headway at all in catching organised crime figures, preventing money laundering and apprehending the companies and individuals engaged in large-scale tax evasion.

Any self-respecting reporter would be turning the heat on this bogus organisation, demanding to know its budget, manpower and its success rate since it was founded by the Howard Government in 2002.

It is an expensive, taxpayer-funded joke, a home away from home for senior police wanting secure tenure, Commonwealth working conditions and benefits, a golden pension on early retirement and a quiet life. The crooks and the Big End of Town like it that way.

AFL and NRL – CHERCHEZ LA DIFFERENCE?

At the MCG for the AFL Grand Final, the national anthem was sung by Marina Prior, the opera singer.

At the ANZ Stadium for the NRL Grand Final, the national anthem was sung by Sarah de Bono, a pop singer.

2 comments

Hi Alex..Beware the sweeping statement in your postscript. Many of us are "noisily" objecting to Jones are doing it because we are sick of hate speech and seek a more civil society. I am unaware of any cross over between the 100000 who signed the petition seeking his career termination with the equally vile anti-Moslem film. Strange you should attempt to draw the long bow and somehow seek to diminish the protest.. Cheers. Robyn